Rapid determination of fatigue failure based on temperature evolution: Fully reversed bending load

An experimental and theoretical study is carried out to investigate the temperature evolution of Aluminum 6061 and Stainless Steel 304 specimens under cyclic fatigue load. A thermographic technique is used to measure the temperature increase of the specimen due to hysteresis heating during fatigue testing. Results reveal that the surface temperature of a specimen under cyclic fatigue load can be directly related to the number of cycles to failure. In particular, it is shown that the slope of the temperature plotted as a function of time at the beginning of the test can be effectively utilized as an index for fatigue life prediction, thereby saving testing time. The predictions of temperature changes during fatigue are found to be in good agreement with the experimental results.